Ok. Shocker coming up here. Being sick- it SUCKS. Hard. And now more than ever!

So I have been legitimately feeling like poo since Wednesday morning. I soldiered on and finished all my school stuff and then just crashed when I came home. I totally thought I'd be getting better by today. I mean hello? 2 full days of bedrest? Vitamin C? DVR'd TV and movies??

WAIT ....not so fast. Remember the writers strike?? I HAVE NOTHING DVR'd!!!! Nothing people!!! Isn't the whole purpose to have oodles of good stuff to catch up on when you are home sick??? GEEEZZ!! I am dying here at home. I am not watching the crap that is actually on!!!

You might say to yourself....Erica....why not watch a DVD or rewatch a TV show something? OK......fine. I rewatched 1 or 2 TV shows and the 1 of my DVD's that I had not watched in a million years. That took up Wednesday's early afternoon. Everything else.....pretty much watched already a bajillion times. Suprisingly enough, when I buy a DVD I generally watch it a few times so I don't have anything new and exciting. I have tried to not buy things I don't need while being in school. What was I thinking??

Anyways. I have been suffering both physically and mentally. So I told myself today I was gonna splurge and buy myself a new episode of a TV show off of I-tunes just to be able to survive. So what happens? I wake up this morning and my wireless is randomly down and trying to reconnect itself to our neighbor's network so when I shut that down I then have no network and it takes like 6 hours to get the stupid thing working again. IE- I was not able to watch the show(Moonlight- Alison shout out- Ain't no party like my vampire's tea party haaaay) until like 4 this afternoon. I spent the whole morning in bed pretty much staring at the ceiling, reading on and off when my eyes weren't watering. The humanity.

And what really irks me... why am I getting sicker?? I just had a cough and fever before and I woke up this morning with like the worst headcold ever? I am ADDING illnesses to my full plate.This is not right. And why is this happening? I blame the writers strike!!

If I had been properly supplied with new episodes of all of my favorite shows then I would have been able to devote all of my body's defenses to attacking virus scum with my kickin white blood cells. Instead my body's immune systems was attacking my boredom level. And that is WACK.

Also I had to cancel my job interview(for my dream job no less) that was for today due to my SARS probably killing the poor kids in the Cardiac ICU. I got to reschedule(sigh of relief) but it wierds me to call in sick to a job interview. I can't think that it looks good for me. They said they really appreciated me doing it but who knows?

So anyways. Here I am. Looking like death I am sure... if my mom's alarm level is any indication.Hacking up a lung. My head about to explode. Killing forests with my kleenex usage. And now writers get like a .00060% return after the first 30 million on proceeds of web downloads or some such crap according to Tina Fey on last week's SNL(my numbers are totally off- FYI- but it's that awful). I hope it was worth it you masochists!

I sneeze in your general direction.

And there are cool movies I really want to see coming out this weekend. ARG!! I am trapped here. OK- I'm heading back now to my lair. My head hurts.

The other week at the hospital I took care of what we in the industry call a "pincher/biter". An old lady that takes every opportunity to act like a 3 yr old when her family is not around. If her daughters are there she is an angel. If not......watch out!! I decided to use my powers of persuasion and I only got pinched once and no attempted bites. Apparently this is like a record.

Two topics of conversation have come from this incident

1. As an old lady are you only a pincher/biter if you were one as a child?

2. How do you care for someone who tries to hurt you?

As to the first question......Apparently I will be a very passive old lady if this is true. I have never been prone to physical violence and due to my sister's surgeries when she was little I would literally sit there and let her beat on me so that I wouldn't hurt her. I do wonder about one of my cousins who was a notorious scratcher when she was little. We all got gouged by her claws at one point. I think I'm still a little bit afraid of her to this day. I would probably be less scared if she didn't have super long fake nails.

The second question makes me sad. As crusty as this old lady was....I kind of liked her. She was fiesty. I didn't appreciate being pinched but for some reason she made me laugh. Then I was at the hospital this week and taking care of other patients and I overheard some nurses talking about how they just couldn't stand her. It's totally understandable. Who wants to take care of someone who is not appreciative of the care? But at the same time.....it makes me feel for all of the elderly people with dementia who are probably pretty "unlovable" in the way they act. I know I've been very frustrated on occasion taking care of patients who try to fight you off while taking their blood pressure, etc. Actually taking the blood pressure isn't the worst part , but anyways... It's sad to think about. You really need your family to love you on the off chance you end up as a crusty old person. Cause if you end up as the hospital with no family....it's sad but true that you will probably get worse care.

Ok. Peace out. I totally have a fever today and this is the first moment I've been able to sit up and get to my computer. Literally. I feel too crappy to watch TV. Tragedy!!

Ok- I admit I am a recovering celeb gossip addict and I have cut myself off from all of the cutting edge/only possibly true sources I used to check all the time when I was a financial analyst/professional web time waster. I only check IMDB now with the occasional foray into yahoo entertainment. This is an amazing improvement.

With this preface, and also adding that I hate popstar gossip- I mean HATE- I was never reading Page 6 to find out about Mandy Moore or JT - I need to comment about Britney Spears.

HOLY SMOKES!!! Here I thought that with her dad being allowed to have her sent to the psych ward(Puhleeeeeeze help her) and fire her crazy manager that maybe her life would take a turn for the better. But with Cali's protection of rights she was back making her own decisions in mere hours. All that good work for nothing. And loser paparrazi boyfriend and manager were back on the scene and fighting her dad's actions.

Is there anyone on earth who thinks Brit knows how to care for a child? Having driven with them sans car seats, dropped them on their heads, fed them junk to bribe them and make them sick all day, and then held them hostage with her in a bathroom for hours, exposed them to her drug and alcohol use, exposed them to her hoo-ha.

Obviously it is a crime that she no longer has custody or visitation rights. Her celebrity is keeping her from getting justice. What would be the best way to keep her custody trial on the down-low and make sure it's unbiased? Did I hear make it a FEDERAL CASE??????

Honestly........if she wants to win her case she needs to be tried by like......Ok I'm drawing a blank. Um.........maybe if the jury includes Matthew McConaughey, Owen Wilson, and Courtney Love. I'm not coming up with 12 though. And in all reality custody isn't a jury issue. And I can't think of any judge to let her off. Judge Reinhold? Mike Judge? Still not likely.

So since we have decided that her chances on a federal level are actually even more ridiculous, what if we take this baby GLOBAL!!! That's right ........I think the world could unite over a UN peacekeeping mission with talks deciding custody between K-Fed and Brit-Brit led by current secretary general Ban Ki-moon. Then all the previously divided nations of the world could all unite over the tragically bad parenting.

And we all join hands and wear daisy wreaths in our hair and eat snackpacks under a magical rainbow of solidarity and different flavors of fruit leather.Someday we'll find it....the rainbow connection...the lovers, the dreamers and MEEEEE!

Today I had my job interview for the NICU at Parkland. It was not bad at all. They never even asked me what my weaknesses were or what were mistakes I have made and how did I handle it? So the usual point where my interviews get awkward and awful never even happened. But there are 50 people being interviewed for like 5 positions so my chances are probably awful.

The manger than was going to interview me was running late due to her duties in the NICU, so I was waiting at HR for like 40 minutes. What a chance to people watch!!!!

You would think people would dress their best and behave themselves when trying to get new jobs. Heheeeeee. It kills me to think about it even now. I just hope that the other applicants for my job are as amazingly misguided as the people I saw today.

1st - I just gotta say this as a member of the fashion police...Navy Suit, Navy Heels, WHITE ATHLETIC SOCKS. I'm not even kidding. She's probably a nice person but all I could look at were the sagging socks. Moving on...

So - a man we'll call Mr Homeless Looking Foreign Nursing Student, or HLFNS for short, came in and starts berating the secretaries because no one has called him to interview him for any jobs he looked at online. He is wearing a baseball cap and jeans and a dirty overcoat. They are nice to him and say sit down at a computer and we'll help you find jobs that are still open. So HLFNS sits down and he has no profile on the parkland site. IE- he could not possibly have applied to any jobs online. He must have looked online and sent good vibes as his way of sending his resume or something. So the nurses tell him- you are a nursing student - you can only apply for internships. So he picks experienced RN jobs. So then they pull up the open internships for him. He applies to none of them. Then he starts asking why a job won't let him apply- it is a Nurse Practitioner's job. They put him back in the intern category. He then tries to apply for a job opening for a doctor. He also asked the nurses what NICU and PRN meant. These are terms that if you don't already know them, you certainly learn within 5 minutes of being a nursing student. HOLY COW!!!

Case study #2 - a woman walks in(in a sweatsuit with a scarf wrapped around her head) and asks is this where I apply to be a Nursing assistant? And the secretaries say no - this office handles only RN's and LVN's. You need to go next door to the general HR office. So she says I already went there and they sent me here(In LOUD MAD VOICE). So the secretary says......Oh- you'll have to forgive us - the secretary next door just started 2 days ago and she still doesn't know the differences in Nursing jobs between general and specialized. Tell her to look up CNA jobs in her office. So the Lady SCREAMS at the secretaries YOU PEOPLE NEED TO STOP MESSING WITH ME AND GET YOUR STUFF TOGETHER!! And then she slams the door (seriously) as hard as she can. So the secretaries look at each other like whatever and keep typing.

Apparently this happens all the time. The secretaries were unfazed. WOW!

It amazes me (since most of the people I know are normal) how many crazy people there are in the world.

I told my friend Duyen, if I was competing with my fellow Collin County students I'd have no advantage at all in interviews, but if other schools apparently admit crazies....we might get job offers right away.

Aww!! Stuffed Puppies hugging!!! Such was my valentines day!! Or as I like to call it "Cheap hallmark gift from your parents to pretend the occasion is not another reminder of their failure in raising you because somehow you cannot fulfill your purpose in life and just get married" Day. Wheeee!!!

The first part of the day stunk. I had a group presentation to do at school. Then after that was finally over I had to sit through this crazy rude woman's recruiting efforts for the UT southwestern medical center system. But we got free lunch.

Then I left school, finally a free woman. No major projects or tests for a few weeks. BLISS !! I thought just getting to sleep tonight would be my reward but I was mistaken.

Fate decided to bestow upon me a rare gift. A pair of shoes that were meant to be mine. Bloggy, do you remember me whining that I found my dream shoes back in December and when I went to buy them a few days later they were gone? I was devastated. I went back to Nordstrom rack like twice afterward that month looking for them. But to no avail. SO....today I decided to go to Nordstrom Rack to celebrate finishing all that stressful stuff instead of face planting onto my bed and losing consciousness like I might normally do. Plus my sneakers are worn down and 4 yrs old and pathetic so I was gonna see if they had any good discounts. And as I wander down the aisle looking for sneakers.....a light shone down from above and rested upon the bestest most erica-ey shoe mine eyes have ever beheld....other than my sexy red shoes which are slammin. It was my dream shoes......those minxes had come back to me!!! And it was the only pair once again. And in my size. AND 50% OFF!!!

Obviously I was being blessed for having survived all of the crap school is putting me through.Ye shall only receive your shoes after the trial of your faith. Or the trial of your knowledge of Oncology, Chest Trauma, Biliary System, Hematologic Disorders, and Nursing Management of the Change Process. And the trial of your ability to survive without sleep.

Behold the glory........

THEN I came home and my mom had gotten me a card and my dad got me dark chocolate with marzipan ( drool). Then my sister brought home 2 Sprinkles cupcakes for each of us!!! I would have taken a picture of that too but the cupcakes disappeared as if by magic. MMMMMmmm.

I am a master of the disappearing cupcake illusion.

Uh oh...Time for an Obligatory Arrested Development Quote

"Illusions Michael...Illusions. Tricks are for Whores" (magic show music and magician hands go POW)

Ok Sorry......I got way distracted. I love me some Will Arnett.

All in all ...a totally rockin day.

There may not have been romance, but there was love and shoes and chocolate.

Word people. I am soo beat down from my recent homework/tests/ upcoming presentation and job interview. I took the most awful test of all time yesterday after getting like 4 hrs of sleep and then got home from school at like 4. I tried to relax and organize myself but i just felt drained.

So I tried to go to bed early to feel better. Then the awful storm last night struck. It was like lightning-ville outside my window.

This morning my alarm went off at 5 and I was like FOR THE LOVE!!!! NO!!!!!!!!

So as I was lying there in the rainy dark ...like a million lame excuses for not getting out of bed ran through my mind. All of my reasoning did not work. So then I started calculating my grade if I missed and decided maybe I could risk it. So I realize I need to wait like an hour to call in to my teacher so she's definitely awake etc. Hmmm...what dread disease can I have that will get me out of today but back by tomorrow- without a doctor's note? A MIGRAINE!! GENIUS!!!!

So then I start to get out of bed to go to the bathroom and POW I fall back on my bed with dizzying pain and nausea. I poke at my temples and massage my neck.

Nope- not a strained neck, not sinuses. I ACTUALLY HAD A MIGRAINE. And then I am lying there for the next hour waiting to call my teacher and tell her about my real excuse now. And wishing for a swift death or for my drugs to work.

It's a real dilemma taking a caffeine OD pill when you know half the reason you probably have the migraine is sleep deprivation. SO I took some tylenol and prayed in the dark. And blamed the stupid lightning for triggering the seizure center of my brain.

So anyways eventually I fell back asleep. But I was wondering .....if I had not been such a bad girl would I have still had the migraine or was I cursed with the very substance of my lies? I have always been afraid of exaggerating an illness for the very reason that God would strike me down with what I was embellishing with to make me appreciate my health.

I spent my day sleeping, doing homework, paying bills, working tonight at the McKinney health clinic I am volunteering at cause I can't really call in there, plus there is no just taking a lower grade- I HAVE to have the hours there. But it was great. I heart the kids!

What a nice day all in all. I mean I did have to do necessary stuff all day, but it was nice to finally wake up feeling less crappy and and get stuff done at a slower pace than my typical weekend homework bonanza.

OOOoh.....And I looked online at the cutest puppy today!! My dad needs to get it for me. Bad.

That's sort of a cross between an Oprah and a Jerry Springer show title I think.

Why must people take the time to tell you that you are wrong to be mad? Or annoyed? Do they not realize that this is a kamikaze mission or do they really think their cause is so worthy that it's worth the atomic reaction?

I was legitimately annoyed (it's blown over now though) with a person last week-over something that was said to me in public that was just heinously rude. And the person decided to be a pain in public on purpose to manipulate me and it just backfired because they looked stupid and were in the wrong. I was annoyed for a while but it's no earth shaking thing. We are buddies again. So who cares- right?

Au contraire.

I happened to see another friend(recent acquaintance really) on Friday and apparently he heard what had happened. SO- he asks me "Are you really angry with him over what happened?" And I say....." uh.......NO....I've known this guy for years and I'm not mad anymore......but I think I'll be mean and make him suffer for a while...hahahaaaa....but he knows what he did wasn't cool and why I got angry......but uh.......you did see that I hugged him when I came in right? It's OK now."

So totally uninvolved friend says "You really need to not harbor resentments and anger. It ruins your life. I can't believe you can't just get over this." And then gives me an AWFUL dirty look. Then he goes off on some thing about how sad it is that I am ruining the best years of my life with anger.

So I look at him like "Are you insane?" I actually looked over my shoulder to see if he was talking to someone else who was punching walls or something.

What on earth?? I was angry in the totally not permanent "mom ate my leftovers" kind of way......and not even really that anymore...time had already passed and I was basically over it........ and I get called to repentance by a recent acquaintance???

So now I'm totally not angry at the original person, but I am genuinely annoyed by the new friend with apparent judgemental diarrhea of the mouth.

Is there anything more annoying than someone who overreacts to your mild emotions and paints them as like.....fuschia and electric blue when in reality the emotion is like pale peach or butter yellow?

You have to have been there at some point ..a minor disaster ensues and some wierdo yells to you -OH MY GOODNESS CALM DOWN!!!!! And you're standing there like a pothead going "Huh??...dude.....maybe you need some of this "

Or at an activity where you get hurt and you are continuing to play- totally fine......but some person on the court walks up to you and is all "You know that was an accident.....there's no need to be angry" What?? Did I do anything other than say I'm OK and keep playing?

I think some people really get off on calling others to repentance or being the peacemaker where there is no war.

Maybe I should have just have blogged about meeting more special people. The ones who love to try to make you out to be more special than they are in order to feel better. Except their perception is WACK and thus they reveal their specialness.

Ok- peace out. I got studying to not do.

Disclaimer - This blog in no way implies that my friends who actually know me and tell me to get over something are wrong. They usually are all too right.

Why oh why must hollywood and the entertainment industry promote the idea of the amazing handsome and socially adept(yet slightly shy and insecure) nerd?

I was tortured by the absence of my only nerd harbor in the the writers strike storm this week. No Chuck. I was Bartowski-less. TRAGEDY!!!! Have I mentioned how much I hate reality TV? Why on EARTH would I want to watch two crazy women trade houses and then argue about who is more sane? What do I care if anyone can beat a new american gladiator? How many times is it amusing to see American Idol build up an obviously abnormal person's hopes only to humiliate them in front of the world? I want to see a tall lanky hot man who we call a "nerd" (so that women such as myself will falsely hold out hope that someday we will meet and marry such a man) fight villians and make LOTR references while reprogramming people's broken electronic devices and trying to make Sarah admit she loves him back. GEEZ!!! I also want to ogle the amazing male beauty that is Captain Awesome. He truly is awesome. Such perfection of form and features. But I digress. My true love is the one with the brown tousled locks and the Nerd Herd nametag.

I was driving around yesterday and realizing that I had no TV episodes of my fave shows to watch due to the writers strike. Not even Chuck this week. So cruel. And suddenly it dawned on me. What devious imp of Satan whispered in Hollywood casting's ear that the best ideas for shows for the past few years would be to cast truly attractive men as nerds? As misunderstood and completely available hotties. It is SOOOO WRONG!!!! Talk about unrealistic expectations of men. I mean it was bad enough with just Jim Halpert to rock my nerd world the past few years, but now to have Chuck and Jim???? And NEITHER ONE ON THIS WEEK???!!! It's only in their absence that I realized I was deceived. (willingly......droolingly)

Now I walk into Best Buy and look around for the former stanford engineeer who is amazingly hot and single and looking for a normal girl. Riiiiiiight. And I expect guys who slave away in an office all day to be sweet and sensitive and super charming with devious senses of humor and an attraction to sweatersets and comfortable flats. Baby I got what you want right here!!! Bend and SNAP! Why you runnin away from meeeee!!!!

All I have to say is some female has turned traitor on her sacred sisterhood and revealed secrets that are going to topple us all. No man could be intuitive or observant enough to figure out the girl code and how to crack even the hardest woman's heart. WE HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED!!! This is Threat Level Midnight people. I would say we need to boycott the shows but that would alert the men that we know that they know. And I would be forced to not watch Chuck and Jim and that .....it's pretty much not gonna happen.

But here's the "New Plan". I'm thinking we need some hard core Bourne-type espionage to catch the mole. We need to release some misinformation and watch it travel until we see it leaked. The question is what is a plausible lie? What can we say we want that we will still enjoy seeing on TV even though it is a complete crock. Women want a man who......bakes pies? Yeah- who cares about pie baking skillz?? CRAP!! Pushing Daisies....I totally forgot about Ned. He makes pie baking look good. DANG IT. They have totally got us where they want us. Maybe we can't escape.

Women want men who ...........use floaties to swim. I can't see myself falling for that. And it would be funny to watch. Or women can't resist a man who ....has a canadian accent. Great for laughs!! And just hearing him say "tomorrow" or "about" will kill all attraction AND make me wet myself just a little.

Ok let's move forward with this plan ladies. Seriously- we need to act decisively now before I try to seduce a fake psychic con artist/crimesolver or his pharmaceutical sales rep BFF. (PS- I love you Sean and Gus.....sigh)

We are all in danger!!! Trust no one. (dang it........maybe this plan has been going on for years.......fox mulder)

In all reality the men are doing is shooting themselves in the foot cause now I heart men that dont exist in reality. So like 80 yrs from now when the planet is devoid of inhabitants due to all the women not procreating, and I am the last human alive, chillin with my dogs and watching Psych reruns, the men will regret that they tried to pull one over on the women.

They can't mess with our heads all they want but they will never be able to make babies on their own. The end. Game Set Match. How do ya like them apples? SUCKA!!!

OK- I am sooo sick of buying products aimed at women.Men have NO CLUE how much money they save every month just by not having to be so darn clean and good smelling and made-up.

If I was a man this would be my monthly beauty list:SoapShaving gelToothpasteShampoo(like once every 6 months...right? my dad doesn't even use it!! then again he's bald)Maybe a face cleanser if you are super girly or skin consciousLotion(Once every 3 to 5 years or just whatever some female relative bought and left at my place out of desperation 10 yrs ago)Deodorant

Oooh and if I was a guy I would buy myself AXE so I would smell hot. But maybe I shouldn't include this for the average uninformed non babe-liscious guy.

And now as a WOMAN- here is my list in all it's glory. And I'm probably forgetting some.Body Wash to smell clean and slightly tropicalCoordinating smell of lotion so my shaved legs aren't scalyFace wash with scrubber beadsFace moisturizer(Quarterly)Moisturizer with SPF 30 for days I go outsideUndereye intense moisture creamMore intense face wash for when I'm having breakoutsFace mask for when I'm breaking out(Probably a year supply)Face mask for when I'm dry(yearly)Shampoo for highlighted hairConditioner for highlighted hairIntense weekly conditioner for color treated hair(This is like a quarterly purchase)HairsprayFace powderMascara(seriously this is a monthly purchase for me- I SWEAR I am cursed to buy bottles that go old early)Intense foot and heel lotion for sandal weatherLip glossoh yeah...ToothpasteDeodorant

And this is me being CHEAP and not replacing the other makeup as often as I am supposed to. Not even NEAR as often.Can you imagine having to keep up with all this? I swear I have to make a run to Walgreen's or ULTA at least twice a week.

And this is of course not counting in lipstick, nail polish(which I can't wear now DARN YOU NURSING SCHOOL), foundation, eyeshadow, eyeliner, blush, bronzer, eyebrow pencil, rubber bands, bobby pins, various broken appliances like curling irons, blow dryers, straightening irons(woo hoo finally I have an advantage!)

And what about the clothes necessary to be a cute girl. Not a crazy high maintenance super shopper. Your average bargain at Ross type girl. We can't be like a boy and repeat the same 4 shirts with the same 2 pants. And each of our outfits requires a matching pair of shoes.

And we need to keep ourselves in supportive and cute underclothing which is also FREAKING EXPENSIVE. And don't forget that our haircuts are like 10 times the price of yours. And that's assuming all we do is cut our hair. Let's not forget how many of us have color too!!We also have other expenses that I won't go into that involve monthly needs for chocolate and a new supply of Aleve, Motrin etc. in addition to other ridiculously highly priced items.And my favorite part is when guys say that they don't understand why we buy all this extra junk. They don't notice what we're wearing and we look best when we have no makeup or it's "more natural". Oh you'd notice alright if we stopped.

If I suddenly showed up every day with zits all over my face and mousy dishwater blonde hair and white-lashed eyes with fuzzy broken ends on my hair you'd certainly notice. What if my scent was Eau de "what's on sale" ....that subtle blend of Ocean Watermelon Citrus funk from clashing shampoo and conditioner and bodywash. Oh and I forgot to put on my Old lady vaseline smelling hand lotion. PERFECT!!! Now I am officially ready to go out into the world and leave men panting in my wake.

I would probably get married tomorrow if it weren't for my insane beauty habits.

Want a pic of what the world would look like if women took men's advice and stopped being so silly and vain??

Please help me to figure out what to do. I am confused. Here's the situation. So ........I'm in school and can't work so I had to take out student loans. And I'm living with my parents so I can save more money and have less debt. The dilemma is this. How much should one beat one's self up for buying crap that is not necessary? Like entertainment. Or ummmmm.....Ok I admit I was gonna say clothes but you don't need to tell me. I have already bought too much so I have cut myself off in that aspect. Alright Bloggy....lay off... I thought we were friends. Those boots were totally cute and I needed a new purse and YES it couldn't wait 6 months. Anyways Bloggy can we get back to the subject......So what about a celebratory vacation upon graduation? Bloggy hear me out I have TONS of excuses.

1. Peer pressure- all my friends are totally doing it. I'm not going with my nursing friends cause all their plans involve binge drinking, but I bet I could totally find other churchy friends to party with me.2. Timing- it may be the last full month I have off at a time for the rest of my life until retirement.3. Reward- Bloggy I have burnt myself out and worked like a demon to get this freaking degree- I need a break.4. Technicalities - I can pay for it a mere month later when I start working5. Personal Happiness - If I always delay everything I want to do in life for practicality I will end up like my parents doing DIY projects because you can always think of a good use of your two weeks vacation at home. Shudder. Please Bloggy don't tell me never going on vacation is the right decision.6. The Economy- Bloggy, I admit this is grasping, but with our failing economy my personal donation to the world of tourism may help a poor child eat bread for one more day. Or allow one shallow yuppie to keep their massive custom house for one more month before getting foreclosed. Really I need to exercise goodwill and faith in the dollar by spending some that I don't technically have yet. Trust me Bloggy- I have a degree in finance.7. Terrorism - What if all the castles in Austria get blown up before I get to see them by some crazy Jihad attack on Austria because ...umm...crap......Ok I got it.......good one Erica......Wagner's unstable mental health caused him to create a beautiful castle dedicated to mythology...... WHICH does NOT include Allah. What then huh????

Bloggy tell me straight. Am I not totally justified? Give it to me Dr. Phil style. I can handle it. I am ready to take anything you might dish out, but I doubt you will. Obviously my reasoning is faultless. Most likely you will just have pity on me and give me some money to help a sista out.

Are you LAUGHING???!!!!!! Don't you DARE mention Suze Orman. I have told you already- I will be willing to discuss budgeting only AFTER I have an income. My delicate mental health is just not up to a close scrutiny of my finances at this juncture. I think I may cry Bloggy. I feel myself tearing up right now. Sniffle. Sniffle. No I am not doing this to manipulate you. My lower lip is not quivering on purpose and my puppy eyes are just shaped that way. I can't help it. I am sorry my crying makes you angry. So sue me. I can't even control my emotions...why should I be responsible if you obviously can't control yours. Fine Bloggy- everything's MY fault.

So ....ummm........are we done fighting? Yeah I hate it when we fight too. Somehow.... now I feel closer to you than ever though.

Bloggy- do you have any vacation time this year you could take in May?